


The Future has Arrived

by ladyroxanne21



Series: Past Present Future [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 03:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: One day in Sixth Year, a little girl with white blonde hair and green eyes appears during lunch and holds onto Harry so hard he almost can't breathe. Across the great hall, a nearly identical boy does the same to Draco.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Gotta love what's possible in the magical world, lol!

Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall for lunch when it happened. It was only two days after he had nearly accidentally killed Draco Malfoy in the sixth floor boys' bathroom and Harry was feeling a bit guilty. He wished he could somehow apologize, but it was clear to everyone that just leaving the Slytherin prince alone was probably for the best.

Anyway, just as Harry was taking a bite of a tender and juicy roast beef sandwich, he nearly choked on his food. Someone or something was suddenly holding him around the waist in a near death grip. Looking down, he saw a little girl of about seven hugging him as if she literally had to in order to keep living.

“Er... Something I can help you with, sweetheart?” Harry wondered.

The girl didn't make a sound, simply looking up at him with tear filled eyes. Harry wanted nothing more at that moment than to comfort her and do whatever it took to make sure she never had to cry again. He swept her long white-blonde hair out of her startlingly green eyes.

Across the hall, a shout made everyone fall silent. “Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but kindly let go of me!” The fact that Draco Malfoy sounded just slightly panicked made everyone look over at him out of sheer curiosity.

Harry frowned as he realized that a boy about the same age as the girl hugging him to death was similarly trying to hug Draco so determinedly that the usually composed teen was almost visibly freaking out.

Dumbledore got to his feet and cleared his throat that was amplified by a spell so that the whole hall heard him. “It seems we have a pair of unexpected visitors. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, please escort our guests over here without delay.”

Harry struggled to get to his feet without hurting the girl that simply refused to let him go. As he did, he sent looks at his best friends to see if they had any idea what was going on, but no. Judging by their looks, they were just as clueless as he was.

Eventually, he was forced to pick the girl up and carry her as he followed the Headmaster into the room off to the side that he hadn't been in since he'd been chosen as a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Draco Malfoy was only a few steps behind him, also carrying a child in his arms. The hall watched them in confusion, whispering softly in speculation.

“Now then,” Dumbledore said as he summoned a platter of biscuits and milk from the kitchens and held them out to the boy and girl. “Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Albus Dumbledore and I'm delighted to meet you.” He held out a hand to the little boy and waited for him to shake it.

The little boy studied the hand warily for a moment before shaking it as expected. Then he took a biscuit and one of the glasses of milk. “I'm Scorpius Malfoy and that's my twin sister, Lily Potter.”

This caused both Harry and Draco to choke on incredulous gasps. They were now staring at the children in mild horror as they realized that yes, both looked like mini versions of mainly Draco with quite a bit of Harry crammed in. The little girl tightened her arms around Harry's neck and cried just a little bit harder – almost enough to made a sound.

Harry couldn't help but want to console her. He bounced her lightly in his arms even as he stroked her hair and made a soft hushing noise. “What's the matter, sweetheart?”

“Daddy...” she mumbled in a soft sob.

“Yes, where's your daddy?” Harry asked, deciding that her name HAD to be some sort of coincidence wrapped in a twisted joke.

“Our dads are right here!” Scorpius growled with more than a little of the trademark Malfoy sneer.

Dumbledore chuckled in obvious delight before clearing his throat and trying to sound soothing. “Perhaps you could begin by telling us what happened.”

“Our dad is an Auror,” Scorpius began, giving Dumbledore a level gaze as he daintily ate his biscuit. “His job is to hunt down bad men and bring them to Azkaban. After he left on an important mission, a group of bad men somehow broke all the wards on our home, making papa here cast a protective shield over all three of us. But then the bad men kept on bombarding us with hexes and curses, and just when the shield failed... Papa cast a spell that...” he shook his head and shrugged. “I don't really know what. The next thing we knew, we were here.”

“Ah,” Dumbledore murmured in understanding. “It seems that your papa sent you to a time and place that he knew you'd be safe – protected by the only people he'd ever trust.”

“Wait. Hang on. Er...” Harry was having trouble digesting this information. “So, if I'm understanding this... _Somehow_ , in the future,” he took a deep breath, exhaled it, then took another as he pointed at Draco. “ _We_ have... children,” he choked on that a little, then forced himself to keep going. “And one of us is an Auror, and the other sent our,” another deep breath. “Kids back in time to protect them. That all makes a sort of sense – if I can wrap my head around... _Anyway!_ Why _here_? Why _now_? That's messing with time in ways that aren't allowed!”

“Yes,” Dumbledore agreed sagely. “But if I had to guess, I'd say that the children had to be sent back to a time before they existed to prevent complications of them meeting themselves. And then they would have had to be sent back far enough that you two were close enough in proximity to each other to protect them. I would presume that this is a time that meets all necessary requirements.”

Draco was also having a hard time absorbing all of this, only he was better at hiding it. “I can understand not trusting anyone other than myself to protect my children, but... none of the rest of it makes sense. And how long will we have to look after our...” he faltered, not quite able to admit out loud that sharing his future children with Harry was even a remote possibility.

Dumbledore sighed heavily. “Time is fascinating. In theory, they should already have returned. No matter how long it takes in the future to reach a point where all parties are safe again, when your future selves are ready to have these children returned, they should be pulled from the moment they arrived. Since they haven't been, I can only give my best educated guess and say that the time they are here will be proportional to the time it takes your future selves to come and get them. Or reverse the spell. In any case, you might be required to look after them for quite some time.”

Dumbledore stared off into space and made thinking noises for a few moments. Then he nodded in agreement with his thoughts. “This will need to be handled with care. Please return to your respective common rooms with the child you carry while I think this over.”

“Yes Professor,” Harry murmured even as Draco gave a silent nod of assent.

The hall was mostly empty by this point with only those who had a free period lingering. Harry shifted Lily so that he could look at her. With an uncontrollable twinge of sympathy at her continual stream of silent tears, he kissed her.

“Are you hungry, love?”

She shook her head at first, then seemed to think about it for a moment before pointing at an apple filled pastry. With a nod, Harry stopped by his house table to pick up the pastry. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco do the same. Then they both walked out of the hall and toward their respective common rooms, except that Lily let out a small sob of distress when she noticed that her brother was going in a different direction.

“Don't worry,” Scorpius assured her. “We'll see each other again in a little bit. You'll go with daddy, and I'll go with papa.”

Lily stretched out her arm toward her brother almost frantically. Harry bit back a sigh of frustration before he stepped closer to Draco. Scorpius and Lily grabbed each other's hands for a long moment, and then nodded at each other. Each mumbled: “Love you,” before letting go. Lily rested her head on Harry's shoulder.

When Draco walked away with no further protest from Lily, Harry carried her all the way up to his common room. By the time he got there, he was sincerely glad that he didn't have to carry a child up seven flights of moving stairs on a regular basis. She wasn't exactly heavy, but the added weight felt like murder on him after all those stairs.

To his surprise, both Ron and Hermione had decided to skip their classes and wait for him in their common room. Harry was focused on Lily so much – stroking her hair as she nibbled on her pastry – that he didn't notice them at first. When he noticed them watching him curiously, he blushed inexplicably.

Lily looked up at them and smiled. “Aunt Mione! Uncle Ron!”

This made them both raise their brows at Harry. He cleared his throat and blushed just a bit more. “Er... apparently, this is my daughter from the future – Lily Potter.”

There was a moment of surprised silence before Ron burst out: “Who's her mother?!”

Lily shook her head. “No mother. Only daddy and papa.”

Harry shook his head and shrugged the best he could with her in his arms. “I have no idea how that would work!”

It was Ron's turn to shrug. “Fertility potion.”

To which Hermione explained. “If a wizard takes a fertility potion, he can grow a temporary womb and get pregnant.”

“Hang on! You're telling me that it's possible I gave birth to twins?!” Harry blurted out incredulously.

“Twins?” They both asked in confusion.

“My brother Scorpius went with papa. That _really old_ man says we might be here a while,” Lily explained. She still had the occasional tear leaking from her eyes, but she seemed to be greatly comforted by Ron and Hermione's presence.

Both of them went wide eyed. Hermione clearly understood what was going on. Unfortunately, so did Ron. His mouth fell open as he put two and two together and came up with four.

“ _Malfoy_?!?!”

Harry snorted in amusement. “Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how that's possible myself.”

Lily gave him a look that obviously wondered how stupid he was. “They just told you. You and papa each took a potion to help you have babies. You had me and papa had Scorpius.”

Harry chuckled nervously. “Alright, so I don't mean  _how_ so much as  _why_ . I have no idea  _why_ I would have babies with Malfoy.”

Lily shrugged. “You once told me that you thought about papa a lot for years, but you didn't realize it was love until we showed up. You said that the best day of your life was the day you two got married, and the second best was the day we were born.”

Harry was choking incredulously again. “ _Married_ ?!?!”

Lily nodded and wiped the tears off her cheek. “Uh-huh. And we live in this big old house in London. You work as an Auror because you're the world's best hero.” Her pride in that was radiating off her in waves. “And papa stays home with us to work on potions in his lab. He makes a lot of money – apparently – but he already had a lot of money because grampy and grammy are super rich. And we go visit grandpa Arthur and grandma Molly and aunt Mione and uncle Ron every Sunday for lunch which turns into a party where we all play Quidditch. You take me on your broom and we fly!” As she said this bit, she wiggled free from Harry's arms and ran around the room with her arms flowing up and down as she pretended to fly. She also made adorable noises that sounded like a cross between whoosh and zooooom!

She ended by flinging her arms around Hermione and hugging her tight. “And your baby Rose is so cute! She can walk now and gets into  _everything_ !”

Hermione had a watery look of pure want mixed with happiness in her eyes when she looked up at Harry. “This means that we all make it through the war alive.”

“I guess it does,” Harry murmured in agreement.

“But...” Ron was still looking at Lily as if trying to take her apart and see if he could figure out what parts of her were from Harry and which parts were from... “ _Malfoy_...”

Hermione looked away evasively. “Well, it does makes some sense.”

“How?!?!” Both Ron and Harry demanded.

“Like she said, Harry's been interested in Malfoy for years,” Hermione stated with a shrug.

As much as Harry wanted to protest, he couldn't. Judging by the way Ron wouldn't quite meet Harry's eye, he couldn't deny it either. Harry tried anyway.

“But... just because I know he's up to something and want to stop him, doesn't mean I _love him_ or anything.”

“Well, _not yet,_ obviously,” Hermione stated in agreement.

Before Harry could think of a response to that, the fire flared and Dumbledore appeared in it. “Harry, please meet me in the third floor corridor outside the guest quarters.”

“Er... alright,” Harry mumbled, still flustered from his conversation, and now confused by the request. “Be there in a few minutes.”

With a nod, Dumbledore disappeared and the fire returned to normal. Not needing to bring anything – aside from Lily – Harry simply headed to the exit of the common room. Ron and Hermione followed him as if it was expected of them. In more ways than one, it was.

Harry carried Lily again, once more thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to do so on a regular basis. As they approached the third floor corridor, they could see Draco standing next to Dumbledore with Scorpius at his side. The two were holding hands, and Draco was looking at the floor with an inscrutable expression.

Just as Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something, Scorpius cried out in delight. “Uncle Ron!” He slipped free from Draco's grasp and ran to throw his arms around Ron rather exuberantly. He even gave Ron a kiss on the cheek before turning to Hermione. “Aunt Mione!”

Hermione looked like she had just been presented with a child of her own that she hadn't seen in years. Her eyes watered and she returned the hug and kiss on the cheek with unconditional love. They held on to each other for an extra second or two, which was enough to make Draco bristle like he was preparing for an epic battle.

Fortunately, before he could so much as open his mouth to hurl insults, Lily slipped from Harry's arms to run over to him. “Papa!” This time, Draco obviously couldn't decide whether he wanted to return her hug, or attempt to push her away as he had when Scorpius had first arrived and latched onto him.

Just then, Scorpius let go of Hermione and hugged Harry. “Dad.” Hearing him say that – the same as each time Lily called him daddy – made Harry feel a powerful emotion. It was like his heart clenched a little. Like he had a tugging in his gut. A feeling like he would gladly die for this little boy who had his eyes and wild hair – even if it was white blond.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. “Yes. Now that we've all been greeted, I think it's time to take this discussion to a place with a bit more privacy.” He opened the guest chamber they were standing in front of. 

Everyone filed into the room in silence. Harry looked around to see that it was decorated like a nice flat. They were obviously in the room that served as a sort of lounge and study all in one. There appeared to be a pair of bedrooms and a bathroom off to the side. Possibly best of all, there was a large glass door that opened onto a balcony with a fairly good view of the lake.

Dumbledore spoke again. “I have decided that the best way to care for these children is for both of their parents to be with them as much as possible. Thus, the two of you will stay here until your future selves either come to get them, or until they simply return to their own time.”

Both Lily and Scorpius clung to Draco, who was flustered but trying hard to hide it. Lily sniffed and tried her best not to cry as she talked to Dumbledore. Though she did have to wipe her eyes again.

“What if... what if the bad men killed papa? What if he _can't_ come back and get us?”

The only sign Draco gave that he was shaken by her words was that he used a hand to stroke her hair. He also looked a bit paler than normal. Dumbledore gave them one of his softest and most grandfatherly smiles.

“Try not to worry about that. I suspect that both of your fathers are quite capable of protecting themselves,” he said with genuine warmth.

“Besides, there is no greater honor for a Malfoy than to die protecting their children,” Draco informed her. Her eyes promptly filled up with fat tears.

“Merlin's sweaty pits, Malfoy!” Harry roared in outrage. “What a thing to say to her!” He pulled Lily into his arms and crooned as he stroked her hair. “I'm sure your papa is just fine.”

Draco sighed in both frustration and aggravation. “Look, all I meant was that better me than them. More importantly, Scorpius, do either of you know if  _we_ remember you coming back to us at this time?”

Scorpius nodded. “Yeah, you tell us all the time that it was seeing us as real people who were mostly happy that made you two consider that there might be more between you than hate.”

“Then I lived,” Draco stated as if this was a fact set in stone.

“What do you mean?” Ron asked curiously.

Draco rolled his eyes and gave Ron a look that announced that he was a blithering idiot. “It's obvious, isn't it? Even if I don't know the exact day – although I bet I could narrow it down with just the little information I have already – I  _do_ know that I have approximately seven years from the time my children are born to prepare. I know that the attack happens while I'm at home alone with them. I also know that I send them to safety so that I don't have to worry about them. I am more than willing to bet that I've laid many a trap, and I'll have a clear strategy.”

Harry smiled, feeling a strange sense of relief. “And besides, if I'm an Auror, I'll probably have done things too – such as set up security spells to let me know the moment our wards break. I am not sure yet what else I'll know in the future, but I can guess that with seven years to prepare, I'll have time to learn all sorts of spells.”

Hermione bit her lip in thought. “Although, if they knew enough to wait for a time when you were off on a mission, they'll probably have arranged it so that you're too busy to rush back. That's probably why you didn't show up before the kids had to be sent back in time.”

Draco shrugged indifferently. “In any case, I am certain that I don't die in that attack, so you should act like a Malfoy and –” 

Lily cut him off with a brilliant smile that sparkled because of her drying tears. “Hold my head high and never let anyone know how scared I really am.”

“Is that how you raise them?” Harry demanded angrily.

Scorpius scoffed in the exact same way that Draco did whenever he was dismissing something as absurd. It was eerie enough to make Draco shiver in awe with the realization that this really was his son. “We can't all be bleeding hearts, dad! Some of us have to have a bit of decorum from time to time.”

Draco had to bite his lip to stop himself from grinning in pride at that. Then Scorpius nearly ruined Draco's mood by adding: “Besides, papa is right to remind us not to worry. You're the biggest hero in the world and you'll definitely swoop in to save papa from the bad men! You two love each other more than anything and there's nothing in the world that will stop you from growing old together.”

Harry and Draco gave each other a skeptical and rather queasy look that made Ron snort in amusement.

Dumbledore chose that moment to stop grinning as if he knew something they didn't, and cleared his throat. “In any case, I'm excusing you from the rest of your classes for today. I'll talk to the Professors, and we'll work out a schedule for you to follow if the children stay for more than tonight.” 

“Yes Professor,” Harry murmured in agreement. Dumbledore left the room, and after a moment in which Ron and Hermione took turns hugging Harry and the kids, they left too so that they could attend their classes. This left Harry and Draco staring at each other awkwardly.

Harry was so grateful a moment later when the kids suggested playing, that he could have kissed everyone in the entire school! By the time Ron and Hermione returned a few hours later – each carrying a tray of dinner that combined should hopefully be enough to feed six people – they were astonished to find that Harry and Draco were playing something that look a lot like tag with their kids. This was quite possibly the last thing they expected!

Harry noticed them first and cheered. “Hooray! Food!”

Draco had just been tackled to the floor by Lily and quickly wiped the laughing grin off his face before he sat up and looked away with an air of disinterest. He might have fooled them had they not seen him completely unguarded a moment before. Not to mention, he held Lily on his lap as if she was a precious treasure.

Hermione subtly stood on Ron's foot to warn him not to say anything, and then smiled. “We figured that you might be hungry by now, so we brought dinner.”

“Starving!” Harry gushed with a grin at his best friends.

“I could eat,” Draco admitted in an even tone.

To everyone's astonishment except the twins, they had a rather civil dinner. The conversation was a bit stilted and revolved mostly around homework until Lily took over and proved that she must have learned at least a little bit about the fine art of polite conversation from her grandmother. She and Scorpius took turns telling them all about the time that their dads took them to a muggle amusement park called Disneyland. That story lasted long enough that they not only finished eating, but the twins eventually started yawning and looked extremely tired.

Harry looked over at the two bedrooms and quickly realized that there weren't enough for the kids to have one and for Harry and Draco to each have one. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Er...”

Draco smiled faintly. “Relax, Potter. I'll share a room with the one I apparently give birth to, and you can share with yours.”

“Oh!” Harry blurted out with a relieved blush. “That makes sense!”

Lily tugged at his sleeve even as her other hand rubbed at her eyes. “What about our bath? We always take a bath together as a family.”

Harry's blush got a little redder. “Er, I think it's probably best if we skip the bath for tonight. I wouldn't want you to drown.”

“Okay,” Lily murmured sleepily, leaning her head against Harry's arm.

Harry carried her into the smaller of the two bedrooms, instinctively knowing that Draco would protest if he didn't have the larger. Not that there really was much difference. He tucked her in bed, gave her a kiss, and then returned to the table so that Hermione could help him with his homework. Meanwhile, Draco disappeared into the other bedroom with Scorpius, shut the door, and didn't return.

That night, after Ron and Hermione had left, Harry lay in bed, curled around his future daughter and listening to her breathe. Now more than ever, he felt the urge to protect her. He wanted to hold onto her and never let go. For her sake – and for Scorpius, whom he also loved just as much – he would do anything. Even put up with Draco, as long as it meant that these two would be born.

 

***

 

Harry walked into his kitchen in full uniform, making Draco raise a brow before sighing.

“You've been called in,” Draco stated needlessly.

“I'm so sorry!” Harry apologized fervently. “I know I promised to be home this weekend, but there's an emergency. There's a group of dark wizards holding an entire family hostage.”

“I understand,” Draco murmured in disappointment. “Go. Save the world.”

Harry pulled his husband into his arms and gave him a long kiss. “Hey, this doesn't change a thing. We'll still take those potions when I get back and then go conceive our next set of twins.”

Draco sighed heavily. “I'm just not sure it's a good idea. When we had the first two, you weren't an Auror yet. Now, your job is so dangerous that I'm afraid that something will happen to not just you, but the baby we plan for you to carry. Maybe we should just not have them. Or only have the one I carry.”

Harry kissed him again. “We'll talk about this when I get back, but I'm serious. I want to do this, and I've already started to make arrangements. It'll work out. I'm sure of it.”

Rather than sigh again – like he wanted to – Draco simply kissed Harry and gave him a tiny push. “Go on.”

Harry nodded, and then turned to smile at Lily and Scorpius. The twins were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Kreacher to finish making their breakfast even as Draco was making tea and pouring milk for them. Harry kissed his kids goodbye.

“I'll be home as soon as I can. In the meantime, you behave for your papa.”

“Yes daddy,” Lily murmured obediently as Scorpius nodded.

Draco snorted. “They always behave for me! Otherwise I petrify them and stand them in the corner until they've had a chance to think about what they've done wrong.”

“Draco...” Harry growled in disapproval.

Draco rolled his eyes, wondering how gullible Harry was.

With no time left to argue about it, Harry simply Disapparated. A moment later, he was at the Apparation point nearest his office in the Ministry. Jogging lightly, he soon made it to the incident room where everyone would be briefed before heading off on the mission.

Almost exactly a half an hour later, an entire team of Aurors Apparated to the best tactical location near the house the hostages were being held in. They spread out, and then raised wards around the entire area that would prevent the criminals from Disapparating. Also, other wards nullified all magic so that no one could cast an Avada Kedavra – or other grievous spell – on the victims. Lastly, a ward was raised to prevent any sort of injury so that the victims couldn't just be stabbed to death either. 

When everything was ready, the team closed in to do their jobs. At this point, the only option left to them was fighting; muggle style. Which was exactly why Aurors were trained in and expected to be good at physical fighting techniques every bit as much as they were expected to be good at spells and dueling.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Harry led his team in to do what they were trained to. Incarcerate the criminals. And save the hostages. 

 

***

 

The moment Harry disappeared, Draco smiled at the twins. “Your daddy is the world's biggest hero. He'll have those criminals in custody in no time.”

At the moment, the twins didn't particularly care. They were used to Harry being an Auror and he'd never failed to catch the criminal and come home before. More important to them was the fact that Kreacher served them each a plate full of hot pancakes served with fresh berries and hand whipped cream.

Chuckling at how obvious it was that their empty stomachs were a bigger priority than worrying about their father, Draco dug into his own bowl of berries, sipping on tea and reading the Daily Prophet. The front page story made him frown.

_Rumor has it that the Savior is having marital troubles. Recently, world famous Harry Potter was spotted having dinner with his ex-girlfriend. Charms were used to prevent our reporters from overhearing anything, but careful reading of their lips revealed the words babies and children mentioned several times. Can it be that our favorite Chosen One has finally decided to leave his husband of several years for famous Quidditch player Ginny Weasley? To be honest, we're not entirely certain we like the idea. What do you think, Dear Readers? If Harry Potter had to marry someone of your choosing, who would you choose?_

Draco rolled his eyes and turned the page. The papers  _always_ tried to imply that Harry was unfaithful to Draco – and vice versa. To his peace of mind, he knew that the dinner Harry'd had with Ginny was just two friends getting together to catch up and chat. It hadn't meant anything more. Even so, there was always a twinge of jealousy when Draco read such articles.

To make himself feel better, rather than go into his lab when he was finished eating, he suggested that the kids go outside with him and play. They started with tag and planned to switch to hide and seek when they needed to catch their breath. However, before they got to that point, all the wards shattered.

Draco felt a moment of sheer panic wash over him. Before he could let it freeze him, he yanked both of his kids close and cast the most powerful shield he could to give himself time to mentally chant the spell that would send the twins back in time. He'd worked on it for almost seven years, using a completely (and illegal) unrestricted Time Turner as his source. He wore it always so that he could access its power to cast the spell when the time came.

Apparently, it had.

The moment he finished chanting and was ready to cast the spell, his shield weakened dramatically. One more good hit, and it would shatter. Fiercely determined, he sent his children to a time and place that he knew they would be safe. In doing so, he used up nearly all of his power.

But he wasn't worried just yet. He'd had plenty of time to prepare. Already, the thirteen unknown men and women were shouting with surprise as they found themselves suddenly dealing with attacking plants, spells going off like landmines when someone without the right blood got near them, and one ancient house elf who was not afraid to protect his master with his very life if need be.

Draco didn't have the mental capacity to cast anything other than another shield charm. This one was very weak compared to his first, and let his attackers know that he was already very low on power. They tried their best to ignore everything but him, except that was impossible.

Quickly gathering his wits, Draco cast another shield before pulling out a small knife and slashing his left palm. He slapped his profusely bleeding hand onto the ground and shouted the spell that would reactivate the centuries of wards around the house. So long as they had access to blood from a descendant of the House of Black, the wards would be unbeatable. Which meant that Draco would be invincible. 

Unfortunately, it also meant that the wards were using Draco's blood and power, which had the potential of running out before the attackers were fully dealt with.

Kreacher and the plants were handily incarcerating all of the attackers until one of them managed to hit Kreacher with a powerful stunning spell. Fortunately, Draco managed to return the spell just before a plant wound its way around the attacker. Looking around, Draco realized that all of the attackers were now unconscious and being cocooned by various plants. 

In relief, he gathered up enough power to cast a Patronus calling for help. However, he didn't have enough energy left. Before he could fully realize this, he passed out, collapsing onto the ground in the middle of a circle of thorny roses that were prepared to guard him from anything and everything.

 

***

 

The moment Harry stepped out of the anti-magic wards after the criminals had been taken into custody, his first thought was that he'd love nothing more than a hot shower and a cuppa tea. His second thought was annoyance at a persistent sound coming from something in his pocket. His third thought was a sense of all encompassing horror.

The wards around his house had been shattered while he was inside an anti-magic ward and wouldn't know it! Depending on when this had happened, the worst could have happened nearly an hour ago! Harry had to purposely stay where he was and focus on his breathing to calm down. If he returned home in a blind panic, he might well go out of control and make everything worse!

Feeling as calm as he possibly could under the circumstance, Harry looked his Head Auror in the eye. “My home and family is under attack.”

The Head Auror barely had time to nod in understanding before Harry Disapparated. The entire team – or at least all of those not needed to deal with the criminals – would have followed him, except that they couldn't get through his powerful wards, and they well knew it. The best they could do was Apparate as closely as possible to Harry's house (which he'd given a general location of to his boss for this very reason) and wait until Harry adjusted the wards to let them in.

When Harry appeared in his backyard, he was confused for a long moment. Draco didn't seem to be anywhere, and the only indication that something was wrong was a baker's dozen of cocoons that hadn't been there that morning. Along with obvious damage from spells and a mini battle. Plus Kreacher lying stunned off to the side.

A thick carpet of roses tugged at the edge of Harry's attention. Careful assessment of the cocoons proved that they were the attackers. Ignoring them for the moment, Harry approached the roses. To his profound relief, he found Draco under them. To his dismay, Draco was unconscious, but at least he was definitely still alive.

Before doing anything else, Harry took the time to adjust the wards so that those he knew were standing by could get in. Three seconds later, his yard was filled with at least fifteen witches and wizards in full Auror uniform, ready to fight. Which was actually a good thing for them since the landmine spells didn't know they were here to help and promptly attacked. Harry had to quickly deactivate them.

“Sir!” Harry called out. “I'm going to take my husband to St. Mungo's. Please see to it that all of the criminals in those cocoons are taken into custody.”

The Head Auror nodded rather solemnly, silently praying that no harm had come to Draco. It was not that he actually liked or cared about Draco, it was simply that he didn't want to know what would happen if Harry lost the love of his life and went mad. A significant look circled around the rest of the team, making it clear that  _no one_ wanted to know what would happen if the most powerful wizard in the world lost all control.

Gathering Draco into his arms, Harry Apparated them straight to St. Mungo's. Less than a half an hour later, relief flooded Harry like ice in his veins – cooling the fire of worry that had been building higher and higher.

“He's going to be fine,” the chief Healer pronounced. “He's simply suffering from magical exhaustion. It seems that he managed to avoid being hit by any hexes or curses. Thus, there is nothing wrong with him that a good long sleep can't fix. Well, and a couple of blood replenishing potions.”

Harry exhaled what felt like all of the air in his lungs. He was already squeezing Draco's hand, but now rested his head on Draco's chest. Even knowing that Draco lived through this, Harry had still been so afraid that time would change and Draco would die after all.

Lucius and Narcissa had arrived just in time to hear the announcement, smiled in relief as they dismissed the Healer, and then conjured plush chairs to sit in. In a surprisingly comfortable silence, the family waited for Draco to recover. Even though it was likely to take days.

 

***

 

Harry was looking at Lily and Scorpius with a frown. They'd been here for five days, and that seemed like longer than necessary if everything had turned out alright. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if future Draco had died and future Harry had no idea how to come back and get the kids. Would he and current Draco have to somehow raise the twins?

And oh! That would be so hard on them! The twins, that is. Imagine being flung approximately ten years into the past, which would make them adults – more or less – when the attack happens. Not only would they have to sit back and let it happen, but then they'd have to go to future Harry after it was over and explain that there was nothing he could do to get them back.

Fuck! Harry unconsciously pulled on his hair with both hands as he tried to imagine his future self losing not  _just_ his husband, but an entire decade of his children's lives. Unbeknownst to him, Draco was giving him a curious look, clearly wondering what was making Harry freak out.

Draco was sitting across from Harry in front of a rectangular coffee table that the six of them were playing a card game around. As usual, Scorpius was sitting next to him, Lily was sitting next to Harry, and Ron and Hermione were on either side of them.

Without warning, the room suddenly felt just a bit fuller. Draco turned to see the source of a soft gasp. To his eye bulging astonishment, his future self was standing hand in hand with future Harry. Future Harry was clutching his chest with his other hand, looking utterly relieved to see their children safe. Both of the older men looked  _really_ good. Like they could both be fashion models. Draco bit his lip to suppress a moan of appreciation.

“Papa!” The twins cried out joyously. They promptly got to their feet and raced to throw their arms around future Draco. “We thought you must have died after all!”

Draco knelt – not letting go of Harry's hand – and hugged them both with his free arm. “Nope! I just had to wait for enough of my magic to return to come get you.”

Future Harry chuckled. “And grandma Narcissa wouldn't let him out of bed until she was certain he was all better.”

Future Draco smiled as he kissed his kids. “Mother and father have decreed that we visit them the moment we return home.”

“Hooray! Grammy and grampy!” The twins cheered in excitement.

Present Draco bit his lip to stop from laughing over the mental image of his parents reacting to hearing themselves being called those rather unflattering names.

“Hey now,” future Harry protested with a smile. “Don't I get a hug too?”

“We missed you so much!” Lily assured him as they transferred their affection to him.

“Did you stop the bad men?” Scorpius asked.

Future Harry ruffled his hair. “Of course!”

Present Harry finally managed to stop goggling in shock and blurt out: “Merlin's hairy chest! We're really married!”

Future Harry laughed and held up his left hand – his right still firmly holding Draco's left hand. “Yep.” He wiggled a large gold ring that bore the initials M.P. “Lily and I are technically Malfoy-Potter, while Scorpius and Draco are officially Potter-Malfoy – although we tend to go by our original last names most of the time out of sheer habit.”

“We take each other's names?!” Present Draco blurted out, looking mildly horrified. 

Future Draco cast him a frosty glare. “Why wouldn't we?”

Present Draco scoffed. “A Malfoy can't marry a Potter!”

The frosty glare transformed into fiery anger. Future Harry tugged on future Draco's hand insistently. The two exchanged a significant look.

“Be nice. He's your past self. You can't murder him.”

“There are things so much worse than death...” future Draco grumbled, one brow raised defiantly.

“What sort of example is that for our kids? Torturing yourself because he's just like you, but without the feelings you currently have,” future Harry wondered, his own eyes daring his husband to argue with him.

Future Draco harrumphed and looked away.

Present Harry flung out a hand in frustration. “How exactly does  _this_ happen?!”

Future Harry smirked at him. “Don't you worry about that. You both have so much to do before this is even a possibility.”

“So...” present Harry began, and then cleared his throat. “So I win the war? Can you tell me how?”

“Don't be a blithering idiot!” Future Draco growled. “Of course he can't tell you that! Just knowing that you survive could change the way things happen and end up in disaster.”

Future Harry looked at him. “I know I can't tell him anything, but I also remember that knowing I lived to have kids helped me a lot when the time came.”

Future Draco looked a tiny bit contrite. “Yeah, I remember thinking something similar when I was completing my mission.”

Future Harry pressed a finger to his lips. “Shh! I'm not supposed to know about that yet!”

Future Draco rolled his eyes and pointed to present Harry. “I didn't say anything he doesn't already suspect.” The two husbands gave each other pointed looks that turned rather flirty.

“That's just weird!” Present Harry and Draco cried out in unison.

“I'll say!” Ron exclaimed in agreement as Hermione laughed softly.

Future Harry nudged his kids. “Go say goodbye. It's time we left.”

“Yes daddy,” they murmured, moving from where they were still clinging to their fathers so that they could pass out hugs and kisses.

As they did, future Harry rested his head on his husband's shoulder and murmured: “They're safe.”

Future Draco smiled and rested his head against Harry's. “We knew they would be.”

“Yeah, but I still worried.”

Future Draco used his free hand to force his husband to straighten up just enough to kiss him.

“Ugh!” Ron groaned, shuddering in horror.

Future Harry looked over to find present Harry looking rather nauseous. He chuckled. “As I said, there are still so many things you two need to do before this is even a possibility. So don't feel bad if this doesn't seem like a good idea at the moment. There's a girl you like, and something momentous is about to happen in that area.”

Future Draco growled jealously. “Don't remind me!”

Future Harry pointed at present Draco. “What's the problem? You're still with Pansy at this point.”

“Not really,” future Draco informed him. “I'm far too busy for anything like that.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot,” future Harry murmured. “That mission of yours is going to happen soon.” 

“Now who's nearly saying too much?” Future Draco asked with a smirk.

“Wait!” Present Draco blurted out. “So it happens? I succeed?”

Both future men gave present Draco a mysterious smirk. “We can't tell you that.”

Present Draco sighed dejectedly. “Of course you can't.”

“However, if you're smart, you'll figure that out on your own,” future Draco added. “After all, you live to get married.” He held up his left hand that was still holding Harry's right one in order to show off his wedding ring. It was a thick gold band that had a flat area that bore the initials P.M.

“I still think I must be dreaming,” present Draco muttered even as he gave his future kids a hug and a kiss goodbye.

“Maybe you are,” future Draco suggested with a mischievous grin. He then held out his hand so that his twins knew it was time for them to go.

Scorpius walked over and slipped his hand in future Draco's while Lily slipped her hand in future Harry's. Just before they left, future Harry slipped his hand free of his husband's and waved at Ron and Hermione.

“I have a message from _my_ Hermione,” he said. “She says that she's knows how frustrating it will be, but that you'll be prepared for just about anything. So just trust yourself and remember that everything turns out all right in the end.”

Hermione nodded and gave him a faint smile. “I'm glad to hear that.”

With a final wave to everyone in the room, future Harry slipped his hand back in his husband's. Future Draco's eyes were closed as he finished mentally chanting the spell he was casting. When ready, he opened them to look intently at his younger self.

“Tempus Reditus!”

They disappeared in a searing flash of light, and present Draco had the distinct impression that his future self had just warned him not to fuck things up. Clearly, that was an astonishingly happy family. Draco hunched over slightly as he realized that he didn't actually deserve any sort of future happiness. Before anyone could say anything, he got to his feet and strode out of the room.

“Well,” Hermione said after a moment of silence. “Looks like your marriage is successful. And your future kids are adorable.”

Harry frowned because he couldn't deny it, and yet, he still had a hard time accepting it.

“So.. who's this girl you like?” Ron asked curiously, obviously attempting to change the subject.

“Er...” Harry blushed and rubbed the back of his hand. “Actually, I'm really hungry. I think maybe we should go to the great hall for dinner. And then I'll probably have to talk to Dumbledore about what happened.”

“Yeah, alright,” Ron agreed, knowing that it wasn't the time to push Harry for answers.

Without another word, the trio left the temporary quarters. Just as he was closing the door, Harry took a look around the room and wondered if he truly would have a family of his own someday, or if it really was all some strange dream. The only thing he knew for certain was that if there was even the smallest chance of it happening, he'd do whatever it took to protect it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I couldn't work any smut in here, lol!


End file.
